Inspired by 'Bloodsport,' UFC's Charles Rosa now lives his dream of fighting all over the world

Growing up, Charles Rosa watched in awe as “Bloodsport” showed Frank Dux (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme) going halfway across the world to enter a violent underground tournament in which fighters of various backgrounds put their own martial arts to the test.

Now, at 31, Rosa is the one preparing to for a potentially violent encounter inside Japan’s Saitama Super Arena. Of course, the UFC isn’t quite like the movie’s “Kumite” tournament with no weight classes, no athletic commissions and nobody actually going out of their way to make sure people leave in one piece.

But still, kind of funny how life works.

“I must have watched (Bloodsport) a thousand times as a little kid,” Rosa told MMAjunkie Radio. “As crazy as it sounds, watching that movie was always – I watched that movie, I was like, ‘I want to be that. I want to be a fighter. I want to go travel the tournaments all over the world.’

“(It’s) pretty cool that I’m pretty much living my dream now. I’ve probably watched that movie more times than I’ve ever seen any movie in my life.”

Rosa (11-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) tries to keep the dream alive on Sept. 22, when he meets fellow featherweight Mizuno Hirota (18-8-2 MMA, 1-3-1 UFC) in an FXX-televised main-card bout. Both Rosa and Japan’s own Hirota look to bounce back from losses – to Shane Burgos and Alexander Volkanovski, respectively.

Rosa hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to international forays. The only two professional fights he has ever had outside of the U.S. ended in defeats. In his promotional debut, he lost a unanimous decision to Dennis Siver, while his third UFC fight, in Mexico, had Yair Rodriguez taking a split call.

But as he prepares to head into one of the birth places of modern MMA, Rosa doesn’t seem to be putting any thought into that. In fact, as someone who grew up on martial arts movies and PRIDE, fighting in Japan is an item that he gets to cross off his bucket list.

“It was always like my dream to go to China or Japan, or one of those Far East countries and fight,” Rosa said. “And represent my country. (To) be able to do this is truly a dream come true. I’m really looking forward to it.

“And I love traveling. And I love fighting. And I love food. I’ve got all three things there. So I’m kind of looking forward to heading out there and getting the win.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 117, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.